Blaze displaces five families

Five families were left without a home Saturday after fire ripped through a unit at the Briarwood, a low-income housing complex at 1253 Johnston St.

Victoria firefighters responded to a fire at the 22-unit complex just after 4 p.m. Heavy smoke could be seen coming from the second floor of the building.

No residents were injured, but one firefighter was taken to hospital with a hand injury.

According to the Victoria Fire Department, the fire was contained to one unit.

Fans were set up on either side of the affected suite to help stop the fire from spreading.

The department estimates damage from the fire at $300,000. The unit where the fire occurred appears to have been destroyed, while units on either side and across the hall from it suffered water and smoke damage.

The damage goes well beyond the financial, said Dean Fortin, executive director of Pacifica Housing, which manages the complex.

“At the end of the day, there are five families — 14 people — who have been displaced,” he said. “Obviously, the most important thing is no one is hurt, but we recognize there’s a dramatic effect on these people. They have lost their homes and potentially all of their possessions.”

Emergency Services was on scene Saturday afternoon, and had secured a B.C. Transit bus to take the affected families to a hotel, where they will be housed until they can be placed in new homes.

“They will stay there while we try to get the displaced families into other units, either with Pacifica or with one of our friends in the low-income housing industry,” Fortin said. But that might not be easy. According to Fortin, Pacifica oversees 1,500 low-income housing units and typically sees only four to six vacancies a month. He said the vacancy rate at that level of housing is 0.02 per cent, considerably worse than Victoria’s overall rental vacancy rate of 0.5 per cent.

“It’s tough out there,” he said, noting Pacifica is in the same boat B.C. Housing was in after a fire destroyed eight units at Evergreen Terrace last fall.

The fire at Evergreen Terrace displaced 35 people and highlighted the lack of affordable accommodation in the city.